We’d been on the road for hours, the M56 stretching out like it had a personal grudge against us, when the satnav decided to send us down a lane so narrow the wing mirrors were practically shaking hands with the hedges. I was just muttering about needing a coffee when there was a sudden thunk and the passenger-side wiper flew off, cartwheeling dramatically into a ditch. We pulled over laughing like idiots, fishing it out with a stick while the rain started, proper Welsh drizzle that felt personal. By the time we rolled into Rhosneigr it was late afternoon, the light soft and silvery over the dunes.

Bigting sat just back from the beach path, a neat little whitewashed cottage with a blue door that looked exactly like the photos, only somehow friendlier in real life. The key was in the lockbox as promised, and the first thing that hit me when we stepped inside was the smell of woodsmoke and fresh bread someone had left on the side. We dumped our bags and immediately kicked off our shoes, the wooden floors pleasantly cool underfoot after the long drive. From the living room window you could see a slice of sea between the houses, the tide already on the turn, and I caught myself just standing there for a minute, coat still on, watching a dog chase its own tail on the sand.

We wandered down the short path to the beach before unpacking properly, the air sharp with salt and the faint tang of seaweed. The mishap with the wiper already felt like part of the story, the sort of small chaos that always happens when you’ve been cooped up too long in a car. Standing there with the waves hissing at our feet, I realised how tightly I’d been holding my shoulders all the way from the Midlands. The cottage behind us looked warm and waiting, lights glowing in the kitchen window now that dusk was settling. We turned back, already planning a simple tea from whatever we’d thrown in the boot, and I felt that quiet little shift you get on the first proper evening somewhere new: nothing dramatic, just the sense that the week ahead might actually be kind.